Electronic device



July 2, 1940. H. E HOLLMANN 2,206,668

ELECTRONIC DEVI CE Filed May 26, 1937 INVENTOR HANS E. HOLLMA/WV ATTORNEY Patented July 2, 1940 UNITED STATES ELECTRONIC DEVICE tion of Germany Application May 26, 1937, Serial No. 144,788 In Germany May 26, 1936 5 Claims.

The invention is concerned with an arrangement representing a further development of the arrangement described in my copending application Serial No. 127,3 i3, filed February 24, 1937, entitled Electronic system, for the amplification and production of ultra-short waves by means of a cross-wise controlled electron ray. The arrangement according to the present invention serves for the production of multi-phase currents, or for the conversion of single phase currents into multi-phase currents such as required in practice for instance for the feeding of certain directional antenna systems, or the like.

Before taking up the actual subject matter of the present invention, the underlying principle of my invention will be briefly reviewed. As energy supplying, or energy converting device an electron ray is employed, produced in the manner known from the oscillograph, and deflected in an electrical or magnetic cross field, i. e., controlled in the transversal direction. The ray impinges on a collecting electrode and the electrons there collected. However, shortly before this takes place it moves past two plate electrodes oriented in the same manner as the deflection plate. Owing to the transversal state of oscillation which the ray undergoes in view of the cross-wise deflection, the charge of the ray a1- ternately approaches or moves away from the two decoupling plates, and consequently influence charges or influence currents are induced therein Whose amplitudes increase with the frequency or to be more exact with the velocity of the transversal movement of the charge, and which may be set to any desired use in a load circuit connected to the decoupling plates.

The invention makes use of this electrostatic transversal decoupling in order to produce two or a greater number of phase displaced highfrequency components. The arrangement may hereby be so adapted that it furnishes natural oscillations owing to a two-dimensional feed back, and operates as a generator, or the electron ray is deflected by a separate potential dividing the latter into the desired components. To this end, the ray instead of being deflected in a single plane according to the parent application, is deflected in two coordinates at right angles to each other and with a phase displacement of 90, so that it rotates about the surface of a cone, whose apex lies in the center of the two deflection fields at right angles to each other. In a manner similar to the deflection field, also the decoupling field is divided into two or a greater number of decoupling components inclined toinvention will be described on hand of the schematical Figures 1-4.

Figure 1 shows a lateral decoupling tube for two phases in a perspective view.

Figure 2 represents the cross section through the decoupling fields of a multi-phase tube with lateral control according to Figure 1 showing the track of the electron ray rotating between the decoupling plates.

Figure 3 corresponds in principle to Figure 2 and is used for a tri-phase system.

Figure 4 shows the assembly and arrangement of the parts for the electrostatic deflection and decoupling fields when the phase displacement is assured by displacement of the individual field components in the direction of the ray, instead of using to this end an orientation of the individual field components angularly displaced.

The principle of the idea of the invention can best be recognized from the multi-phase lateral control tube and lateral decoupling tube according to Figure 1. An electron-optical reproducing system S of any desired type produces in conjunction with the glow cathode K an electron ray E having a small circular cross section. This ray permeates the two deflection fields extending at right angles to each other, and produced between the lateral plates P1, P1", P2, and P2 corresponding in pairs. Two respectively opposite plates have alternating potentials applied which have a phase displacement of 90. These two voltage components can be obtained by dividing an alternating voltage into a resistive component and into an inductive or capacitive component, or in any other way. The two deflection fields which are displaced in phase and act at right angle to each other can as is known be combined to form a rotating field in which the ray will be deflected along ,a circle on the above mentioned cone surface. The ray impinges on the collecting electrode A where it describes a circular track surrounding the bottom surface of the deflection cone. Before the ray A impinges, it passes between lateral plates P3, P3, P4 and P4" having a square shape and suitable distances therebetween. In these lateral plates, influence charges are induced in the manner described in the parent application and in the introduction. Two respectively oppositeplates are connected in pairs with two load resistors W3 and W4 of any type represented in Figure 1 as oscillatory circuits. The lateral plates deliver tothese oscillatory circuits the high-frequency energy decoupled from the rotating ray, whereaiter said energy can be put to any further use.

In Figure 2, there is shown a cross section through the decoupling field of Figure 1 to indi cate more clearly the production of the multiphase currents in accordance with the invention. It is hereby presupposed that for the influence charges only the distance of the ray charge from the four plates or in other words the movement of the charge in the direction of the electrical field lines is taken into consideration, but not in the direction laterally thereto. Thus for the plate pair P3'-P3" only the vertical component of the movement of the charge of the ray in the X-direction is active, and for the second plate pair P4'P4" it is only the component in the Y-direction. The circular rotary move-- ment of the charge of the ray can as regards the decoupling fields and with the reversed viewing of the deflection fields be divided again into two oscillation components X and Y extending at right angle to each other and having a phase displacement of 90, said components inducing according to the invention in the two sets of plates P3 and P4 the desired currents or voltages having the phase displacement.

The lateral decoupling does not depend on the exact shape of the deflection field, and theoretically any number of currents displaced in phase.

at definite angles can be produced. Accordingly,

1 Figure 3 shows a decoupling field furnishing three currents displaced at 120. To this end, six lateralplates are provided arranged in circular angles of 60, so that the electrical field components produced in the three plate pairs form angles of 120 between each other when the field vectors have the direction of the arrows. In this manner similar to Figure 2 three currents or voltages displaced at 120 can then be readily produced, i. e., the decoupling system represents a tri-phase system.

With the embodiment thus described the tube solely serves for dividing alternating voltages coming from the outside into two-, threeor multi-phase voltages, whereby at the same time an appreciable amplification is obtained. In view of this amplification the tube can also be operated as generator, in that the alternating voltages produced in the load circuits W3 and W4 are fed back upon the pair of deflection plates P1 or P2, whereby in accordance with the phase position of the feed back, the second deflection voltage must be obtained by inductive or capacitive division. On the other hand, a double feed back may however also be utilized by producing the rotating deflection field with the aid of the two output voltages displaced in phase at 90. To this end, the voltages at W3 must be returned to the deflection plates P2, and those at W4 are to be brought back deflection frequencies are so low that the natural inertia of the movement of the electrons in the ray during the passing of the plates and along the path from the deflection field to the decoupling field could be neglected in comparison with the duration of the cycle. But the main use of the lateral decoupling tube is seen in the ultrashort wave field in which the presumption is not fulfilled at all at the ordinary ray velocities. In this case, the multiple lateral decoupling tube according to the invention may be modified in various ways.

After all it is not necessary in order to produce a circular deflection of the ray to depend on two deviation fields displaced in phase, but instead its ultra-dynamic phase displacement can be resorted to, in which the ray undergoes when passing from one deflection field to a second one displaced as regards the direction of the ray. The conditions at the deflection of the ray are well known so that they will only briefly be reviewed. The tube accordingto Figure 4 differs from Figure 1 in that the two deflection fields between the plate pairs P1, P1", P2 and P2" are displaced as regards the direction of the ray at the distance 03. Furthermore in contrast to Figure 1 always two plates are connected with each other therefore having deflection'potentials of same phase. Despite this fact, the two deflection fields do not act simultaneously as regards the deflection of the ray, but with a time difiference determined on the one hand, by the distance d and. on the other hand, by the velocity 12 of the ray. If the frequency of the deviation voltage is designated by w, the phase angle produced by the inertia of the electrons is:

and

In suitably choosing the velocity v of the ray, i. e., the plate potential, the conditions can be so adjusted so that this phase angle will be equal to 90, so that hereby the same action will be attained as with the electrostatic rotary field described in Figure 1.

Also in this arrangement a rotary field exists principally when using as reference system the electrons moving with the velocity v. The conditions can be clearly visualized when considering that the courses of the individual electrons have a lagging as regards the electrical field vector which is equal to the longitudinal velocity 0, so that the rotating ray remains no longer straight but winds itself along a skew line on the said cone surface. In this way the ray appears as indicated in Fig. 4. The equivalent rotary deflection field sets the screw like cone ray into rotation about the axis of the cone.

If the decoupling fields are to be prevented from mutually permeating each other and infiuencing each other causing difficulties especially in ultra-short waves, the arrangement in a single plane is not possible, and the fields must be displaced in the direction of the ray as in the case of the deflection fields. However also in this case the ultra-dynamic phase displacement appears, so that the decoupling fields need no longer be arranged in a cross, but parallel to each otheras shown in the figure. The desired phase displacement of 90 then causes the inertia of the electrons in the skewed electron ray.

The method has particular advantages in the production of ultra-high frequency multi-phase currents, since the permeation of numerous decoupling fields situated in a. single plane produce disturbances. Multi-phase systems are obtained with the coaction of the ultra-dynamic phase displacement simply in that several decoupling plate systems are permeated in the same orientation and in suitable distances d by the ray in succession. Obviously in special cases also crossed decoupling fields and at the same time also decoupling fields displaced in the direction of the ray can be combined therewith.

In principle, the fundamental idea of the invention is the same if the high-frequency energy contained in the transversal components of the oscillation of the electron ray instead of being decoupled by electrostatic means are decoupled by electromagnetic induction, such as is already proposed for the case of the simple decoupling from a ray extending laterally in a plane. The same considerations in connection with multiphase systems are directly applicable to such electromagnetic systems.

Having described my invention, what I claim 1s:

1. Electronic apparatus comprising means including a cathode, an anode and a target electrode for producing a beam of electrons, means to deflect the produced beam along a conical surface of revolution, a plurality of pairs of parallel planar electrodes positioned between said anode and target electrode and surrounding and spaced from said conical surface of revolution, and an oscillatory circuit connected between each pair of electrodes.

2. Electronic apparatus comprising means including a cathode, an anode and a target electrode for producing a beam of electrons, means to deflect the produced beam along a conical surface of revolution, two pairs of parallel planar electrodes mutually perpendicular to each other positioned between said anode and target electrode and surrounding and spaced from said conical surface of revolution, and an oscillatory circuit connected between each pair of electrodes.

3. Electronic apparatus comprising means including a cathode, an anode and a target electrode for producing a beam of electrons, means to deflect the produced beam along a conical surface of revolution, three pairs of parallel planar electrodes positioned between said anode and target electrode and symmetrically surrounding and spaced from said conical surface of revolution, and an oscillatory circuit connected between each pair of electrodes.

4. Electronic apparatus comprising means including a cathode, an anode and a target electrode for producing a beam of electrons, means to deflect the produced beam along a conical surface of revolution, a plurality of pairs of parallel planar electrodes positioned between said anode and target electrode and positioned symmetrically with respect to the axis of said conical surface of revolution, and outside of said conical surface, and an oscillatory circuit connected between each pair of electrodes.

5. In a cathode ray tube wherein is provided means to form a beam of electrons, a target member and means to deflect said beam, and a plurality of pairs of parallel electrodes positioned between said beam forming means and said target, the method of producing oscillatory currents which comprises the steps of deflecting said beam along a conical surface of revolution spaced from and lying within the area enclosed by said electrodes, and resonating the displacement currents produced between said plates by the deflected beam of electrons.

HANS E. HOLLMANN. 

